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The First Purge Is More 'Personal' Than Previous Films

With the next entry in the Purge franchise only a few months away, the producer of The First Purge has revealed his own feelings about the movie and dropped a few hints about the tone of the story. Describing how it differs from all the previous Purge films, Andrew Form (Duke Nukem) states that he thinks it is more 'personal' and that the main protagonist is a 'badass' and a 'cool guy'.

The First Purge has a self-explanatory title, as this prequel is said to explore the very first experimental Purge Night, where the NFFA (New Founding Fathers of America) flex their political muscles and introduce the 12 hours of violent amnesty, where nothing - including murder - is illegal. This immediately separates it from all previous films in the franchise, as they all took place when the night was a seasoned annual event. The Purge: Anarchy and The Purge: Election Year had a overriding arc revolving around Frank Grillo's Leo Barnes, where the NFFA were seemingly ousted from power at the climax. At the very least, the latest film will strip the concept back to the beginning and see how the Purge affects people with no warning of the deadly time-period.

According to Form however, when he gave an interview to Cinema Blend, The First Purge will move away from the content of its predecessors in certain ways:

"This Purge is about a neighborhood. It's a lot of similar things, but it is specific to this neighborhood and to me, and I can't believe I am going to say this and don't quote me on it, but it feels more personal than the other Purge movies. It really does. I've seen the movie once and it was a long cut so I don't want to lead you down a path if we end up changing it, but it just feels like a more personal story and the protagonist in this Purge is just a badass. He's just a cool guy and it's just a cool movie. It's a really cool movie."

On the surface it looks like the new film will be a slight move towards the smaller scale of The Purge, the original 2013 movie which started the franchise. It should be remembered that the original Purge was mostly a simple home-invasion story, with the outside world almost ignored. And while this entry is unlikely to be that scaled-back, it is known to take place on Staten Island for the most part, hence its original title of The Purge: The Island. However, it sounds like the action will be more intensive, and focused on a much smaller area than Anarchy and Election Year. It also sounds like it will have a lead character to challenge Grillo's for the Purge flagship hero, possibly Y'lan Noel as William.

Form also took time to praise the franchise's creator James DeMonaco, mentioning that he has accurately predicted elements of the current cultural and political landscape again. This has been made plain from the digs at the Trump administration in the First Purge posters and marketing. The First Purge is directed by Indie filmmaker Gerard McMurray, shooting from DeMonaco's screenplay. The cast also includes Lex Scott Davis (Superfly), Marisa Tomei (Spider-Man: Homecoming), and Melonie Diaz (Charmed). Hopefully, this prequel will emphasise the strongest and most disturbing elements of this alternate USA, and provide a thrilling ride with some depth.